Apparently our unelected masters at the Met Council think they need even LESS oversight from the legislature than they receive today. Yes, that's the essence of the proposal to break the deadlock at the legislature over the $135M the Met Council wants for its absurdly overpriced SW Light Rail line (which by the way continues to be embroiled in legal controversy).

First, the DFL's proposal is the once again centered around a new tax, namely a new 1/ 2 cent sales tax that would push the standard sales tax in both Minneapolis and St Paul over 8%.

Secondly, that tax would raise $280M a year, forever. That's right - in order to pay for the initial $135M to complete the SWLRT, we need to commit to $2.8 billion in new taxes over the next 10 years.

But the real kicker is that the Met Council's Chair, Adam "Duininck said his pitch to skeptical lawmakers is that the $280 million per year would allowMetro Transit (i.e. the unelected, unaccountable Met Council)to untether itself from state government to the tune of $50 million per year it currently receives from the general fund."

That's right. His pitch is that further freeing the Met Council from pesky legislative meddling is a reason why the opposition should approve another tax increase.

We can only hope nobody on the "right" side of the aisle is insane enough to buy into that argument.